Jeremy Corbyn has announced that Lyn Brown will stand in for Diane Abbott as shadow home secretary for the period of her ill health.

Abbott pulled out of two major election events on Tuesday due to illness amid relentless criticism from the Tories who see her as a weak link in Labour's team.

Earlier, the Labour leader told BBC Breakfast that she had not been well for a "couple of days" and was "taking a break from the campaign".

He said: "Of course Diane is somebody that works extremely hard and represents her community very well and I have to say has received totally unfair levels of attack and abuse not just recently - over many years."

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But she was among a slew of MPs who resigned the following year following a vote of no confidence in his leadership. She said then that Labour should seek a new leader "for the good of the party and the country".

She rejoined the front bench three months later as minister for policing.

MP for West Ham since 2005, she is fighting Thursday's election in the ultra-safe east London seat, which she held with a majority of almost 28,000 in 2015.

She was a Labour whip under Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, before being appointed shadow minister for communities and local government in 2013 and then shadow home office minister two years later.